Barack Obama sending Eric Holder to Ferguson

President Barack Obama announced Monday that Attorney General Eric Holder will travel to Ferguson, Missouri, on Wednesday, while also calling for an end to unrest in the town.

The president said Holder’s visit would include meeting with investigators and other leaders of the community. In addition to meeting with Holder, Obama said he also spoke to Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon as well as Missouri Sens. Roy Blunt and Claire McCaskill.

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“While I understand the passions and the anger that arise over the death of Michael Brown, giving into that anger by looting or carrying guns, and even attacking the police, only serves to raise tensions and stir chaos, it undermines, rather than advancing justice,” Obama said a press conference Monday afternoon.

Obama, however, added that constitutional rights to speak freely, assemble and those of the press must be “vigilantly safeguarded … especially in moments like these” adding that “there’s no excuse for excessive force by police.”

Of the situation, Obama said Ferguson is “rightly hurting,” but called once again for people to “seek some understanding rather than to simply holler at each other.”

“Let’s seek to heal, rather than to wound each other,” the president said.

“I’ve said this before, in too many communities around the country, a gulf of mistrust exists between local residents and law enforcement. In too many communities, too many men of color are left behind and seen only as objects of fear,” Obama said, before pointing to his own initiative, My Brother’s Keeper, which he said is already making significant progress.

In his own statement Monday afternoon Holder asked for the public’s patience as the agency investigates Brown’s death, but took aim at the process so far.

“The selective release of sensitive information that we have seen in this case so far is troubling to me,” Holder said.

Both Blunt and McCaskill said they will join Holder in Ferguson on Wednesday.

Speaking after Obama, Nixon in an interview with CNN said he appreciated the president and Holder’s efforts, but acknowledged the continued tensions in his state.

“It was a hard night last night and we’re hoping for a better night tonight,” Nixon told CNN’s Jake Tapper.

Holder met with Obama at the White House on Monday to discuss the situation in Ferguson after perhaps the most violent night of demonstrations since the fatal shooting of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown.

Other Obama administration officials in the meeting included White House deputy chief of staff Anita Breckenridge, White House counsel Neil Eggleston and Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco, the report said.

Early Monday morning, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon announced he was deploying the state National Guard to Ferguson to address the “intensifying violent attacks” there. The Democratic governor’s announcement came after increased tensions in the Missouri city following the release of the identity of Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, who shot and killed Brown on Aug. 9, and the institution of a state of emergency and curfew over the weekend.

In a statement later Monday, the governor announced there would not be a curfew on Monday night and that the Guard would have a “limited mission.”

“The Guard’s immediate and limited responsibilities under the direction of Colonel Ron Replogle of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, are to provide protection, and ensure the safety of our Unified Command Center, which was the target last night of a coordinated attack,” Nixon said in a statement. “The Guard will concentrate its resources on carrying out this limited mission.”

The scene on Sunday was a marked contrast to the calm Thursday evening, when Missouri State Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson presided over a night of peaceful protests, no arrests and a downsized, plainclothes police force. Sunday night marked the second evening of a state-imposed midnight-5 a.m. curfew, a decision Nixon said was necessary to prevent looters from doing more damage but that has received heavy criticism from many in the Ferguson community and elsewhere.

Police officials have acknowledged that officers fired several smoke canisters and at least one tear gas canister Sunday, and many of the hundreds of officers in Ferguson on Sunday evening appeared in riot gear. Police reported that they were responding to gunfire and Molotov cocktails being thrown from members of the crowd, but protesters said law enforcement acted without being provoked. Johnson of the Highway Patrol said one protester shot another and that the victim was listed in critical condition early Monday morning. He also said he was forced to “elevate the level” of police response after some crowd members threw bottles at officers.